Universal Accessibility Interest Group

last person joined: yesterday 

Charge: Offers librarians, support staff, students, and other advocates networking and collaboration opportunities, information sharing and programming to promote accessibility in academic libraries, including web accessibility, assistive technology, reference and instruction for users with disabilities and captioning processes.
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  • 1.  LibGuides v2

    Posted Mar 24, 2015 08:37 PM




    I know a lot of academic libraries use LibGuides. If you were not already aware, Springshare, the maker of LibGuides, introduced a new "platform"/version for LibGuides in April 2014 known as LibGuides v2.

    Has anyone migrated to the new version already? If so, are there any concerns with accessibility? Has anyone investigated or tested accessibility with screenreaders, etc.?


    The reason I ask....

    I attended a webinar yesterday discussing migration to LibGuides v2. Springshare has said that they are currently planning on supporting the older version (v1) at least through 2015.  However, the presenter announced that a firm date has not been set, and Springshare is allowing libraries to migrate on their own timeframe.


    I brought up the issue of accessibility to the presenter, Zinthia Briceno-Rosales. Zinthia said v2 had been reviewed "peripherally" and that further review was in the works. She also said that Springshare was planning on doing a review once per year. I explained that review needed to be a priority and recommended that a review be done more than once per year. She said she'd pass along my comments to the developers.


    I will say that Springshare has been responsive to ADA issues in the past. My Disability Resource Center (DRC) on campus reviewed LibGuides for accessibility and made several recommendations for changes. Springshare was very responsive and implemented all of the changes. Zinthia, the presenter, said that Springshare was open to any suggestions that libraries had to improve accessibility.


    I am planning on having my campus DRC review a LibGuides v2 site as a number of libraries have already implemented the new version. You can get a full list at this page: http://libguides.com/community.php?m=i. To find all institutions, simply change "All Products" to "LibGuides v2."


    If you have comments to share, please post them.  As soon as I have a report from my DRC on v2, I will share it.


    Thanks much,

    John



  • 2.  RE: LibGuides v2

    Posted Mar 24, 2015 10:05 PM

    SJSU is changing over later this spring, so I will be checking into navigating the v2 version with Jaws and voiceover late spring/early summer and would be happy to report my findings.

     

    Cheers,

    Teresa



  • 3.  RE: LibGuides v2

    Posted Mar 25, 2015 07:09 AM

    Teresa:

    If you can share your findings, that would be most appreciated.

    I have requested our DRC on campus review several v2 LibGuides and home pages for guides in regards to accessibility.

    Thanks much,

    John